TOPIC: Little Home network issue...

Have a 'LinkSys EtherFast 10/100 16-port workgroup switch' and a DSL Modem. Modem goes to switch, switch goes to two PC's, both with XP. Now it auto-assigns the same IP to both computers, so both computers can't be plugged in at the same time.... making the switch pointless.

Haven't been able to get into the switch's options and change stuff around, otherwise, I'm pretty sure I could fix this.

Is there a solution that doesn't involve spending money, and what is it?

Knowing that you are gonna be getting just a single IP from your ISP, you will be having to NAT this in some form to be able to get both your PCs online simultaneously. Try the following alternatives :

a. Case A - You have two ethernet ports on one of the PCs

Connect this PC to the Linksys switch over its ethernet interface and the other ethernet interface connects to the second PC. Enable ICS on the first PC and you are all set to go.

b. Case B - You have one ethernet port on each PC and a USB port on the DSL modem

Connect your main PCs USB port to the DSL modem adter installing the drivers and verify that it can connect online; any of your two PCs are equal contenders to assume the main connection to the DSL-Modem. The ethernet port on the main PC now connects to the one on the second PC. The Linksys switch essentially goes out of the picture.

Enable ICS on the main PC between the ethernet and the USB interfaces.